Fujifilm Puts a Touchscreen on the instax mini Evo 2
Fujifilm has updated its most recognisable hybrid instant camera with a 4.5 inch touchscreen, the first in the instax range, and a sensor that more than doubles the resolution of the model it replaces. The instax mini Evo 2 keeps the retro body and the dials of the original, but the back of the camera is now a large display that behaves like a phone.
The screen is roughly 1.5 times the size of the panel on the mini Evo, which Fujifilm launched in 2021 to a following that turned a hybrid camera into a fashion object. Resolution rises to 13 megapixels, against 6 megapixels on the older model, though the higher figure depends on a microSD card being fitted, since images saved to internal memory stay at 6 megapixels.
But the bigger change is how the camera is used. The touchscreen allows settings such as the flash to be changed directly, and captured frames can be swiped through in the same way a user would flip through a stack of prints. Fujifilm has kept the physical controls, including the print lever and the lens dial, because the click and resistance of those parts is much of what buyers pay for.
A second addition addresses a limitation that amateur photographers will recognise. The instax Expanded View mode shows a slightly wider area on screen than the film will actually capture, so a subject can be tracked as it moves into frame rather than being cropped out. Fujifilm says the wider view is useful for anything that will not hold still.
And the camera now records a short clip around each shot. The instax Immersive Movie function saves the moments before the shutter is pressed as a vertical video, so the scene around a photograph survives along with the photograph itself. Fujifilm is not consistent on its length, since the Singapore release describes a five second clip while the releases published in the United States and Europe both say four seconds.
And that app has been refreshed too. Transfers can run over Wi Fi as well as Bluetooth, the print history gathers images and clips in one gallery with room for comments, and Direct Print lets the camera act as a smartphone printer for pictures taken on a phone.
The rest of the specification is familiar to anyone who has used the line. The mini Evo 2 prints on instax mini film, which is sold separately, offers ten lens effects and ten film effects for 100 combinations, and keeps the selfie mirror, the macro mode and the choice between rich and natural colour modes.
Fujifilm is positioning the launch around a global campaign with the line show how you see the world, aimed at buyers who treat the prints as something to give away rather than keep. The camera body has been reshaped with a curved form and a redesigned lens ring for a firmer grip.
But the price puts it well above a basic instant camera and in the range of a mid tier mirrorless body, which is the trade Fujifilm is asking buyers to make. The instax mini Evo 2 goes on sale in Singapore from the last week of next month at S$399, with a matching case arriving shortly afterwards.
The instax mini Evo 2 is the first instax camera with a touchscreen, a 4.5 inch panel
Resolution rises to 13 megapixels, more than double the mini Evo, but needs a microSD card
Immersive Movie records a vertical clip around each print, five seconds in the Singapore release and four elsewhere
It goes on sale in Singapore from the last week of next month at S$399
